Retractable leashes for pets, particularly dogs, are present in the prior art. A variety of leashes have been described ranging from single cord and/or leather leashes to more versatile leashes having telescoping features. Retractable leashes have become more popular in recent years because they allow the pet owner to have a lead cable of varying lengths, which translates to varying levels of control over the animal, depending on the environment and/or situation encountered by the pet owner while walking a pet. For example, in largely open areas, the pet owner can allow the animal to roam more freely by extending the lead cable further while still maintaining a level of control over the animals such that the animal is not free to run away from the pet owner. Similarly, in crowded areas or areas which may pose a hazard to the pet, the owner can restrict the extension of the lead cable and keep the animal closer and under greater control compared to when the lead cable is fully extended.
Pet owners who have more than one pet, in particular dogs, may wish to exercise their dogs at the same time. However, an individual may find it difficult to control two separate dogs on two separate leashes. When attempting to walk multiple dogs, a pet owner will often find that one dog walks slower than the other, one dog wants to run and explore more than the other, and/or one dog will have to stop to relieve itself when the other wants to keep walking. In order to accommodate each dog, a multi-cabled leash is necessary. Multi-cabled leashes are also known in the art, however the majority of multi-cabled leashes are simple lengths of cord and/or leather which allow a pet owner to walk two pets simultaneously without any control over the length of the lead and/or control over the animals.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,270 to Imes discloses a dog leash for use with two or more dogs that enables two dogs to be walked simultaneously comprised of an automatically retractable leash commercially known as Flexi-2® and a second leash having a nylon strap in which one end of the strap is connected to a dog collar and the other end of the strap contains a pulley that runs over the narrow cord of the first retractable leash.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,261 to Irving discloses an extendible and retractable lead that can be extended or retracted in position in a single action.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,792,893 to Quintero et al. discloses a retractable leash for two animals which includes two spool assemblies for individual extension and retraction of each animal's cord with each animal's cord controlled by its own button and locking mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,207,296 to DiDonato discloses a two-pet no-tangle retractable leash device including an axel having a rod opening perpendicular to its axis and a first spool including a first leash and a second spool including a second leash rotatably mounted on the axel.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,151,735 to McCrocklin discloses a leash for coupling a first animal and a second animal to an object wherein the object comprises an exterior bulbous body and an interior bulbous body and a first tether spool and a second tether spool housed within the interior bulbous body and the rotation of the interior bulbous body occurs upon a traversing of the first tether relative to the second tether and prevents the first tether from entangling with the second tether.
In light of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide the desired features described herein as well as additional advantages such as providing the ability of walking two dogs with a single compact leash while preventing entangling of the individual cables. The horizontal positioning of the spools achieves a more compact design as well as a new way to combine the rotation of the housing with a lock feature. The key to a compact design is to maximize the spool size for proper spring steel retraction functionality and maximization on cord length. Preferably, the companion animal is a canine. Another object of the present invention is to provide individual cable retraction with a non-entangle feature.
The invention can be better visualized by turning now to the following drawings wherein like elements are referenced by like numerals.